Uluwatu Bali Latest News 01

The information on this site is sprawling, I know and sympathize. Eleven Demons is finished, but I have enough other information to fill two more books, and the cases continue to rage as hot as ever.

I suggest to interested readers:

1st - read Eleven Demons. It is clear and entertaining.

2nd - read this Latest News for interesting updates about Eleven Demons or about the Uluwatu and other cases.

3rd - if you are interested in documentation, check the extensive documentation at www.uluwatu.com. But as I have warned before, it can be boring.

4th - if you are doing business in Indonesia you might want to read the Law Blogs pages for some occasionally useful information about Indonesian law.

and finally - frankly, if I were you, I wouldn't try to read every page in this website. It's too much stuff. Someday it will all come out in the next book, Mafia of the Gods.

Paradise Found…and Lost

Don't even think about signing any contract or agreement, entering into any kind of business partnership, starting any legal action, or above all proposing to a Balinese woman without first reading Eleven Demons from cover to cover. Disguised behind a story of how love can go horribly wrong, this book is both a compulsively good read and an essential manual on how to live, love, and conduct business as a foreigner in Bali.

A young man travels to Bali in the late 1970s and meets a beautiful Balinese girl in her family's losmen (inn) in Kuta. There are wonderful descriptions of Bali's early days of tourism when Kuta and Legian were separate and distinct fishing villages, where fishermen set out at dusk in jukung (boat) lit by kerosene lamps, of kulkul drums beaten to sound the alarm, and of Made Jati's sad family life.

In spite of her on-again off-again relationship with an Australian surfer and garment entrepreneur, Donnelly and Made Jati strike up a torrid romance. Their destinies become quickly and inextricably entwined. After parting on a dark night in Kuta Beach in 1978, they rekindle their love again in a little cafe in Santa Monica four years later, and Donnelly and Made Jati soon marry.

The family lives in Bali from 1987 to 2007. At first their life together is blissful, but Donnelly soon learns that the real work in a relationship lies in overcoming the obstacles and villains standing in the way of true love.

They have two children, and start two wildly successful businesses together. After 23 years, their marriage dissolves, setting off seven years of acrimonious legal and personal disputes over the children and the joint assets. After a death threat is made against the husband, he opts to live in California with the couple's children.

I got more than I bargained for in reading this chilling story. Not only did I live again my own searing divorce 25 years ago in the story's relentless catalog of grievances, helplessness and frustrations, but I was also thankful not to recognize all of Made Jati's traits in my present family culture. The story makes long-term residents of Indonesia wonder how different our lives would be had we married someone else and taken a different path.

In order to counter claims that his interpretation of events is untrue or libelous, the author has created an impressive website which provides an exhausting amount of documentation and is an integral part of and supplement to the story.

But one does not need to accept the author's claims to enjoy the book. Judging from its literary merits alone, with its host of idiosyncratic and intriguing characters, the book is a walloping good read in and by itself. If the reader has spent many years in Indonesia, he or she will have an even deeper appreciation and understanding of the events in the story.

Eleven Demons might be hard to come by in Bali. When the publisher sought distribution and sales outlets on the island, bookstores declined with "we know some of these people" and "we're afraid of retaliation." Indonesian and English-language magazines and newspapers refused to carry reviews when it came out. Made Jati also has her staunch supporters among the Balinese and expatriates who have formed an organization and a rather anemic website to provide her with emotional and practical support.

In telling his side of the story, it is difficult to see how Donnelly could bare more of his soul. He is blisteringly honest with himself, admitting his weaknesses, prejudices, illogical fears and his persistent habit of rationalizing his ill-advised decisions. He misses all the early signs of his wife's larger purpose in their marriage. I found my breath quicken and my heart pound as Donnelly learns of yet another betrayal, another bribe being paid off, another promise being broken. The fast pace saves the story from being a hateful rant or a report on a boring legal case.

This writer has an uncanny ear, able to capture the spoken dialog of all the main players, which brings the reader quickly, and intimately into the story, whether it be the peculiar Indonesian-English sentence structure ("Because no money for school") or the hilarious Austrian accent and speech patterns of his wife's lover. His informative cultural digressions sprinkled throughout the text, from black magic to child rearing practices and gender delineation in family caste systems, have been gleaned from living for more than 20 years in Indonesia.

This riveting and powerfully evocative work, a 431-page testimonial on how a man can be blinded by love, will make a thoughtful, nay indispensable gift for anyone who wants to know what Bali is really like behind the paradise facade of five-star hotels, stunning temples, and extravagant pageantry. In the end, the book gives the Balinese back their humanity, showing us that they are not only the god-kissed flower children the world perceives, but are just as selfish, disloyal, greedy, and self-deceptive as the rest of us.

Eleven Demons is available for Rp189,000 at Jakarta's Kinokiniya bookstore, online worldwide through Amazon or directly (with free shipping) from the publisher by emailing: info@equinoxpublishing.com.

By Bill Dalton

Tempo

No. 01/13, August 28, 2012

I have been told that a review of Eleven Demons has just been published this week in TEMPO Magazine (English). I haven't seen it yet, but it must be favorable because I already received an email from a reader

"Just finished your extraordinary book. Wow! Besides it being a book I couldn’t put down, it was a real eye opener for me..."

who learned about Eleven Demons from the TEMPO review.

If you aren't familiar with TEMPO, from the Wikipedia description:

"Tempo is an Indonesian weekly magazine that covers news and politics. It was founded by Goenawan Mohamad and Yusril Djalinus and the first edition was published in March 1971.

"Under the New Order of President Suharto, Information Minister Harmoko banned the publishing of the Tempo magazine, along with two others, citing them as a threat to national stability. Publication of Tempo resumed following Suharto's departure from office. In response to the ban, a number of journalists established the Alliance of Independent Journalists (Aliansi Jurnalis Independen).

"The magazine has continued its independent position, and on 27 June 2010 published a story about police corruption, based on leaked documents showing that six senior police officers had bank accounts containing millions of dollars, in one case more than US$10 million, on monthly salaries of around US$1600. A few days later (6 July) the magazine's editorial offices in central Jakarta were firebombed by two black-clad men on a motorcycle. Little damage ensued but the attack was widely presumed to be linked to the police.

"In the early morning hours on the day the story broke, officials presumed to be connected with the police vainly tried to buy up all the copies of the offending story. Although they purchased 30,000 copies in central Jakarta, no other areas were affected, and vendors doubled the price of the much-in-demand remainder. And anyway Tempo simply printed and supplied its distributors with 30,000 replacement copies. The action only added to the publicity surrounding the story."

Apparently it was not coincidental that the review was published in TEMPO. For other magazines the review may have been a little too hot to handle.

I was long ago chased out of Bali, so maybe that's why I miss so much Bali news. I was surprised today while doing a Google search for "M. Rifan" to find an entirely new Austrindo scandal which also seems to have been shut down by the Bali police.

Read it here at West Ham Man Blows Whistle On Corrupt Aussies in Bali

If you have trouble opening it, you can find a cached version HERE.

What I find most amazing is that, according to Andrew Drummond, Austrindo Law Office is still on the recommended list at the Australian Consulate!

I was informed a few years ago by the U.S. Consul Joshua Finch that Austrindo was no longer recommended, but either Joshua was mistaken, or for some reason Austrindo was put back on the list.